All's Fair In Love and Laser Tag
by ravenclawdancer4999
Summary: My personal take on how Meredith Stepien came to be a member of Team Starkid. What better way to bond than through a night of laser tag right? Except things start to get serious when Walker tells Lauren that guys are better at laser tag than girls because "girls are naturally more delicate." BIG MISTAKE. Rated T to be safe
1. An Invitation

**Just a quick note, I know that Meredith was in fact a part of Little White Lie. I'm ignoring this because I wanted her to interact with Starkids other than Darren, Jim, Lauren, Matt, and Brian. Thanks!**

The night after Harry Potter: The Musical had closed; Meredith Stepien was sitting at her desk, doing homework when her cell phone began to ring. She trudged across the room to pick it up, noticing the caller ID.

"Hello?" she answered.

"This is the police calling for a Meredith Stepien," a serious voice stated, "We have reason to believe that-"

"Nice try, Darren."

"Awwww, come on! How did you know it was me?"

"Caller ID, you should look into it. So what's up?"

"Well, I wanted to ask if you wanted to come to our HP after-party tonight, to celebrate a successful show."

"Darren, I wasn't even in the show..."

"You stayed after rehearsal nearly every day helping out, that's good enough for me and it'll be good enough for everyone else. Besides, not everyone can be there anyway. Jim, Bonnie, Tyler, Britney, and Richard already had plans. Pretty please? For me, your best friend in the entire world?"

"I don't know, I have a lot of homework."

"We're going laser-tagging..."

"...Alright, I _reluctantly _accept. Would it be okay if I brought my roommate, Denise?"

"The more the merrier! I'll text you the time and place."

"See you then I guess!"

"Oh, one more thing. I suggest you dress in all black, Starkids play hardcore."

"And you're suggesting I don't? You can't tell me you've forgotten all the times I kicked your ass at paintball in high school?"

"That was rigged! I got the faulty guns every single time!"

"Tell yourself whatever you want to, I'll be there."

"See you then...cheater..."

"Later...loser..." Meredith hung up the phone, walked over to her closet, and flicked through the hangers for something dark to wear. Just as she pulled out a pair of blacked out converse, Denise walked into the dorm.

"Hey, Denise," she called to the other side of the room, "You have any plans tonight?"

"Actually, yeah," the blonde giggled, "I have a date with Tyler tonight, you know, the one with the really great smile? He asked me a few weeks ago, why?"

"It's nothing," Meredith replied, "Darren invited me to a party and I asked if it would be okay if you came along, but since you're busy-"

"Oooooo, like a date?" Denise gushed.

"No! We're just friends and besides, there's going to be a ton of other people there," the brunette rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I see, you're just 'friends,'" she winked.

"DENISE!"

"I'm kidding!"

"It's not like we're going out for a candlelit dinner or anything. We're going laser-tagging."

"Whatever you say Mere, now which dress should I wear tonight?"

Later that night, Meredith wished her friend luck and waved her off to meet her date. The girl turned her attention to getting dressed. She put on a black t-shirt, black jeans, and her black sneakers. She tied her curly hair back in a messy bun and stuck a few bills in her shoe for dinner. Meredith grabbed her car keys and cell phone and ran out the door of her dorm to her car.


	2. Meet the Starkids

Darren was waiting for her at the door of the laser-tag arena.

"Good to know you found the place alright," he grinned.

"It's too bad, but Denise couldn't come, she already had plans tonight..." Meredith sighed.

"I doubt that they'll be as fun as yours. Don't worry about it, Britney decided to come, so we still have an even number," Darren proclaimed, "Come on, I've got to introduce you to everyone." Darren strode through the doors, Meredith following behind him. He walked up to the table full of college students, every one of them dressed in head to toe black.

"Everyone, this is Meredith," he introduced with gusto, "My best friend since high school. You probably saw her a lot, helping out after rehearsal."

"Hi!" a girl with short, dirty blonde hair chirped, jumping up from her chair, "I'm Jaime, it's nice to finally _meet_ you, Darren talks about you all the time..."

"No I don't!" Darren protested, his face turning bright red.

"Yes, he does," a tall guy with ice blue eyes insisted, "Hey, I'm Joe, but most people just call me Walker."

"Mostly because there are two of us," another boy with sandy blonde hair cut in, "I'm Joe _Moses_, but everyone calls me JoMo for short."

"If there are any other Joes, speak now or forever hold your peace." Meredith joked, not fully expecting a response.

"I guess that would be me," a guy with a crooked jaw piped up from the corner, "Except I'm Joey, not Joe, or Walker, or JoMo, just Joey."

"Nice to meet you Joey," she responded, turning to some of the girls, "Hey Lily, Britney, Devin..." The three girls grinned and greeted her warmly. "Britney is in my comedy class and was my partner for stand-up, Lily is in my improv class, and I took Theater I with Devin our freshmen year," she explained to Darren.

"You do stand up?" said a boy with curly hair, holding out his hand "That's awesome! I'm Dylan Saunders."

"You've got quite a set of pipes, Dylan," Meredith smiled, shaking his hand.

"Don't give him a big head!" a tiny girl with large brown eyes laughed, "I'm Lauren by the way, Lauren Lopez. If you're wondering, which you probably are, I'm five feet tall on the dot."

"With an extra two feet of attitude," a girl with auburn hair smiled and Lauren gave her a playful smack on the shoulder. "I'm Julia, Lauren's roommate," she pronounced, "On a completely unrelated note, have you seen Spider-Man 3 yet?"

"No, but I've heard it sucks," Meredith replied in hushed tones, in case anyone may have actually liked it.

"You and I need to go see it then," Julia sighed "I'm sorry to say, but I haven't seen it yet-" Suddenly, a tall thin boy with messy brown hair broke his intense staring contest with a boy who looked very similar.

"GET OUT." he said coldly, pointing at Julia.

"HA! KISS MY ASS ROSENTHAL, I WIN!" yelled the other boy, "PAY UP!"

"No fair Holden!" Rosenthal pouted, "I was distracted by Julia's act of blasphemy!"

"I won fair and square," Holden smirked, "You owe me five bucks."

"Fine," he pouted, handing over a few bills, "Sorry about that Meredith, I'm Brian Rosenthal and this is-"

"Brian Holden," the boy interrupted, "Maybe you've heard of me? I helped write the script."

"He's the one known for having a notoriously big head," Lauren snickered, "Although he's more commonly known to all of us as 'B-hole'."

"I told you not to call me that!" Brian whined like a five-year-old.

"Hold up kids!" Darren shouted over the commotion, "Can you guys at least _try _to behave for once? If not for me, for Meredith. I think you guys may have scarred her..."

"Darren," she remarked slyly, "I've been friends with you for how many years now? If that hasn't scarred me, I doubt anything will." All the Starkids howled in amusement as Darren blushed furiously once again.

"I knew I liked her," Lily laughed, putting her arm around Meredith.

"Enough chit-chat!" Joey ordered, "Let's eat, I'm starved!"

"Joey, you ate almost an entire bag of Doritos on the way here," Dylan pointed out.

"And your point is?" Joey questioned him.


	3. Let The Games Begin!

The group of Michigan students ate and laughed for the next hour before Lauren and Walker got into a heated debate.

"What do you mean boys are better at laser-tag?" Lauren threatened, glaring at him furiously.

"I'm just saying that we're built for things like this," Walker responded nonchalantly, "Girls are just naturally more delicate than boys."

"I'LL SHOW YOU MORE DELICATE!" Lauren pounced on the muscular boy and had to be restrained by both Britney and Devin.

"Come on guys," Jo Mo reasoned, "Let's settle this like mature adults, in the laser-tag arena."

"Girls versus boys," Jaime continued with a glint in her eye, "Team captains are Walker and Lopez. Losers pay for the game, no mercy."

Everyone nodded with approval, competitiveness filling the air. The college students paid for their dinner and headed over the wall of equipment to pick up a vest and gun. Once they had settled the arrangement at the front desk, they all filed into the arena, girls on the green team with Lauren and boys on the orange team with Joe. The two captains walked to the center where the two sides of the arena met.

"We're playing with the three-strike rule," Walker started, "Once you're hit three times, you have to leave the arena."

"Last player standing wins the game for their team," Lauren finished.

"But don't forget, we don't want anyone to get hurt!" Darren called from one side, "So be careful!" Everyone grumbled, but agreed to this rule.

"Five bucks Darren is the first one out," Rosenthal murmured to Brolden.

"You're on," Holden whispered back. Over on the girls' side, a very similar conversation took place.

"I'll bet anything that Lauren and Joe will be the final two," Devin muttered so that only Britney could hear.

"That would be a sucker's bet," Britney breathed back. The two captains sized each other up, a cold stare between them.

"May the best team win," Walker proclaimed, holding out his hand to shake.

"Don't worry," Lauren smirked, spitting in her hand and shaking Joe's before he could pull away, "We will." She turned on her heel and strode over to her team. Walker's face contorted with disgust as his team snickered from behind him. The two teams scattered, waiting for the start signal. The loud buzzer sounded, indicating open fire.

As predicted, Darren was the first to leave the game. He was done for the minute Meredith spotted him from her post, three shots and he was a goner. Lily was the next to go, receiving two shots from the captain of the orange team and JoMo making the final hit. Two minutes later, Jaime sniped out Joey from one of the upper towers, but not before he had hit her twice, one more blow from Holden and she was out. Dylan fired at Devin, hitting her twice before Rosenthal made an attempt to save her by sacrificing himself, having already been hit by both Meredith and Lauren. Walker got his revenge by firing the final blow to get Devin out. Julia made valiant effort to eliminate Joe's second in command, Joe Moses, firing off two shots before she was taken out by Holden, who was promptly finished by Lauren a minute later. Meredith took down Dylan in a sneak attack with two shots, after he had taken Britney out of the game.


	4. Showdown In The Arena

The final four players; JoMo, Meredith, Walker and Lauren, circled the arena, ready to shoot anything that moved. Meredith made a left turn and witnessed JoMo firing a deadly blow at Lauren. She quickly shot him down before he could tell Walker, who still thought Lauren was in the arena. Back on his side of the game, Joe looked at the screen to see that only one player remained in the arena with him. An almost maniacal grin spread across his face.

"IT'S ON LOPEZ!" his voice echoed across the nearly empty room, "YOU'RE FINISHED!" Meredith heard every word from the other side of the arena, her heart pounding in her chest. What should she do? He was much bigger then her. If she couldn't outrun or outshoot him, she would just have to outsmart him. A plan formed in her mind as she carefully removed one of her shoes. Summoning all her courage, she took a deep breath, and channeled Lauren best she could.

"COME AND GET ME WALKER!" she shouted in the tiny girl's voice, "I'M NOT SCARED OF YOU, YOU BIG- ARGGGG! MY ANKLE!" Meredith chucked her shoe across the floor and quietly ran to the opposite side..

Joe heard her high-pitched scream and a loud thud from the girls' side of the arena.

"Hold on Lo, I'm coming!" he shouted, sprinting the source of the noise, momentarily forgetting about the game.

Now Meredith, who had always had a knack for impressions, had managed to convince Walker that Lauren had been running towards him, but somehow had tripped and injured herself. She only had a few precious seconds before he realized that it was all a ruse. Following his noisy footsteps, she quietly tailed him until he reached the lone shoe.

"Where are you Lo?" he yelled

"Right here," she called to him in Lauren's voice, "Game over." Meredith let out two rapid fire shots on top of Lauren's previous one and ran off before he saw her. Joe looked to ceiling and let out a blood-curdling cry.

"WWWHHHHHYYYYYYYYYY?" he moaned, before walking out of the arena, his head dropped in shame. Meredith collected her shoe and watched his display of agony, utterly bemused. Joe walked back into the lobby, not bothering to look up at his friends. The girls let out a cry of victory while the boys let out groans of embarrassment.

"Well played, Lopez," Walker muttered to himself, "Well played..."

"What are you talking about Joe?" a familiar voice answered, "I'm right here!" He looked up into the amused face of Lauren Lopez.

"Lauren! Wait, if you're here," he said slowly, "Then who-"

"Someone looking for me?" an identical voice came from behind him. Walker whipped around to see Meredith smirking in the doorway, her laser in one hand, the abandoned shoe in the other.

"You? What? How?" Walker stammered as the rest of the Starkids fell into hysterics.

"I figured that if I couldn't out-shoot you, I would just have to outsmart you."

"I'm lost," Joey stated, "How did you beat him again? The girls looked from Meredith to the shoe, piecing together what had happened in the arena.

"I see," Britney spoke up, her eyes lit up in comprehension, "She pretended to be Lauren-"

"To make Walker think she was still in the game," Julia continued.

"Then she threw her shoe across the floor-" Lily giggled.

"To throw off where he thought I was!" Lauren howled with laughter.

"That's the basic idea," Meredith explained, "I imitated Lauren best I could, and then threw my shoe in the opposite direction to make him think she fell. While he thought she had tripped and fallen, I snuck around behind him and fired before he realized I was there."

"Damn..." all the guys muttered under their breath.

"But...but, she cheated!" Joe shouted, trying to defend himself, "She tricked me!"

"I hate to say this buddy," Dylan confessed, "But strategy is the name of the game, all's fair in love and laser tag."

"I can't believe you actually thought _I _was Lauren!" Meredith mused, "I've known her personally for maybe a few hours and you've known her for months now..."

"Now," Devin drawled, "I think you gentlemen owe us a game of laser-tag, if I'm not mistaken." The boys grumbled, but pulled out their wallets, each paying their share of the price.


	5. The Aftermath

Eventually, Meredith walked up to Joe to apologize.

"No hard feelings right?" she said softly, holding out her hand.

"Well..." he hesitated, but then his face broke into a grin, "As long as you're on _my_ team next time, I think I'll be fine." He pulled into a strong bear hug, squeezing her tightly.

"No fair!" Holden cried from across the room, "I want her on _my _team!"

"Don't be ridiculous B-Hole," Jaime grinned, taking her hand, "She's already got a guaranteed spot with me."

"I've known her the longest!" Darren protested.

"No way!" Lauren smirked, putting an arm around her, "This girl is _mine._"

"I know a way she could be on ALL of our teams," JoMo yelled over the banter, causing the room to go quiet. He looked over at Julia, and she nodded her head.

"I think that Miss Meredith Stepien had proved herself more than worthy," Julia declared, the smile on her face growing, "To be a member of Team Starkid!"

"Do you promise to sing, dance, and act like there's no tomorrow, even if there is?" Rosenthal began.

"I do," Meredith nodded.

"Do you promise to do everything in your power to please an audience, whether it be humiliating or not?" Britney questioned.

"I do," she replied.

"Do you promise to make it a point to laugh at least once every day and do whatever it takes to make someone else do so?" Devin inquired.

"I do," she responded.

"Do you promise to stand by your fellow Starkids, even if it may lead to possible injury, or run ins with the law?" Lily continued.

"I do," she smiled.

"Do you promise to be your incredible self, every hour of every day, and never let anyone tell you any different?" Darren asked solemnly.

"I do," Meredith answered.

"All in favor?" Dylan asked. Thirteen eager hands flew in the air.

"Well, I'd say that's unanimous!" Joey laughed, "Motion passed!" The entire table cheered, and engulfed their newest member in a group hug. Meredith looked around her, knowing that she had finally found a place where she belonged, she had finally found a home.


End file.
